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Companies Profit From Embracing Sustainability
MIT News
The percentage of companies reporting a profit from their sustainability efforts rose 23 percent last year, to 37 percent, according to the most recent global study by the MIT Sloan Management Review (MIT SMR) and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The study, “The Innovation Bottom Line,” was…
Lean Should Be a Pain in the #*%!
Mark R. Hamel
We’re all familiar with the Toyota Production System “house.” You know, the structure schematic with, among other things, the just-in-time and jidoka pillars. Well, sometimes I think it would be more appropriate to refer to the house, any lean house, as a house of pain. What?! Not great for lean…
Improving the Efficiency of FMEAs
A failure modes and effect analysis (FMEA) is a reliable tool for improving products and processes while reducing engineering workload. A good FMEA can also improve machine and resource availability by identifying, analyzing, and improving high-risk components. However, an FMEA's value is often…
Has Your Organization Contracted Humpty Dumpty Syndrome?
Tripp Babbitt
The rhyme we all learned as children rings in my ears: Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall / Humpty Dumpty had a great fall / All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again. I like to use Humpty Dumpty to describe companies that have functionally separated their work.…
Come to Work, But Don’t Pull the Cord
Norman Bodek
Afew years back, I visited Toyota’s plant in Georgetown, Kentucky, with the group of executives from various construction corporations. One member of our team asked Gary Convis, the first American to head a Toyota vehicle plant in North America, “What do you expect from your workers?” “Only two…
The Lights Are On, But Nobody Is Home
John Flaig
There are many different process control methods and procedures available to the quality practitioner. A popular but problematic visual technique employs the traffic light analogy. As discussed in the article, “Stoplight Charts With SPC Inside,” by Steven Prevette (Quality Progress, 2004), the…
Animal Magnetism and Valentine’s Day
Bill Kalmar
Now that Super Bowl Sunday and all the hoopla associated with it has come to a conclusion, we sports fan can look forward to the opening of baseball training camps and of course March Madness, the annual National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball tournament. For many of us, though,…
Why Healthcare Performance Is Important to U.S. Competitiveness
Harry Hertz
According to a recent PBS report based on information from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United States’ healtcare expenditures are 2.5 times greater than that of the most developed nations around the world. Depending on which report you read, our healthcare…
Speeding Time to Market at Motorola
IntraStage
The first production Model T auto in 1908 ushered in a new era of transportation by shrinking dramatically the time it took for people to move from place to place. Like the Model T, communication technologies such as email, mobile phones, and the Internet are dramatically shrinking the time for…
Quality: A Concrete Example
Keith McDavit
I recently received several bids for a small concrete project on the side of my house. The lowest bid was $1,400. Relying on the finest traditions of economy and scientific thought I had learned in college and as a quality professional, I decided to do the job myself. I figured it could be done…
Short-Range 3D Scanning Technologies: An Overview
Daniel Brown
“A 3D scanner collects distance information about surfaces within its field of view,” says civil engineer Mostafa Abdel-Bary Ebrahim. “The ‘picture’ produced by a 3D scanner describes the distance to a surface at each point in the picture. This allows the three-dimensional position of each point…
Mergers and Acquisitions in the World of Metrology
Belinda Jones
Two major acquisitions were announced in early January 2013, and it is not surprising that both companies were software developers and long-time players in the industrial measurement sector. 3D Systems announced it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Geomagic Inc. This acquisition is…
Please Don’t Shake My Hand for the Next Month
Bill Kalmar
Have you noticed the number of people with the flu, or flu symptoms, or an upper-respiratory infection? It is the time of year when America succumbs to the current illness bug, and millions of people will be coughing and sputtering and sneezing. The people who get flu shots may be immune from all…
The Road Not Taken
Taran March @ Quality Digest
You’ve gassed her up, you’re behind the wheel, with your arm around your sweetheart in your Oldsmobile… —Tom Waits If you were in the business of selling a popular dream—say, freedom, status, and mobility—and you began to notice your customers’ dreams shifting elusively, as dreams do, into…
Creating Lean Flow in Office and Service Processes
Drew Locher
There are many well-documented lean successes in manufacturing applications. However, service organizations and administrative processes within manufacturing companies often struggle with applying these concepts. A big problem is that companies tend to focus strictly on lean “tools” and fail to…
How to Light a Fire Under Almost Anyone Without Getting Burned, Part 2
Jack Dunigan
In part one of this column, we learned about Robert, who seemed to succeed at everything the business world could throw at him. His responsibilities became greater than one person could manage, yet he mostly worked alone, by choice, except for support from his clerical staff. There were several…
Bewildering Things Statisticians Say: ‘Failure to Reject the Null Hypothesis’
Eston Martz
Subcultures have languages all their own. Teen gangs, statisticians, gamers, music buffs, sports nuts, furries—all use terminology that baffles outsiders. The arcane language helps identify kindred spirits: Using the correct phrase proves you belong. The proper buzzwords can gain you admittance to…
How to Light a Fire Under Almost Anyone Without Getting Burned, Part 1
Jack Dunigan
Robert’s second-floor offices are crowded with papers, files, memos, phone messages, charts, and project plans. On his belt hangs a smart phone. A secretary in a front office handles the business telephone, which rang a dozen times in the few minutes I sat with him. He is a busy, busy man, and…
Keeping Lean Initiatives Lean
Thomas R. Cutler
In an unforgiving and increasingly competitive marketplace, manufacturers struggle to squeeze 5 percent to 7 percent from operational cost reductions. Those who fail often don’t survive, and more than 1,000 North American plants closed last year because continued improvement to the bottom line…
How Large Corporations Can Spur Small-Business Growth
Gallup
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the lifeblood of a country’s economy. They generate jobs that are sorely needed worldwide. Gallup’s World Poll estimates that of 3 billion adults globally who report they want a good job—one that is 30+ hours per week and provides a consistent…
Rembrandt’s Mysterious Stranger
Brookhaven National Laboratory
A sophisticated X-ray technology is paving the way to uncover the secrets of a 380-year-old masterpiece by Rembrandt van Rijn, Old Man in Military Costume. Painted by the Dutch artist during 1630–1631, previous investigations spotted another portrait, an underpainting, that was only faintly…
The Secret of Process Adjustment
Donald J. Wheeler
When your process outcomes are not what you expect them to be it is common to adjust the process. This is not always appropriate. To understand when adjustments are appropriate, and when they are inappropriate, we will need to learn how to distinguish between the noise contained within the data…
Why Some Quality Management Strategies Just Aren’t Working
Mike Roberts
A considerable number of executives today still struggle to make quality a top priority. Based on a survey of more than 300 executives, barely 50 percent of companies in large and mature industries currently make quality a top priority. In fact, for some industries such as food and…
NIST Accepting Proposals for Fundamental Measurement Grants
NIST
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is soliciting proposals to support significant research in the field of fundamental measurement or the determination of fundamental constants. Although the fundamental constants such as the speed of light or electron mass are just that—…
Upfront Value: How EQMS Implementation Strategies Pay Off
Matthew Littlefield
Many organizations have implemented targeted quality management functionalities to address immediate issues. It’s common for these functionalities to be homegrown or bought as off-the-shelf software solutions. As a consequence, however, organizations are now facing the challenge of ensuring that…

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